You Do Not Know Me
by herzog
Summary: Ziva is caught in a compromising situation and refuses to let the team help her.
1. Chapter 1

-1Tony dropped his pen and looked up from his pile of paper work, across the bull pen Ziva was just putting the finishing touches to her own reports and packing up her things. He sighed loudly and put his face in his hands, when this prompted no response he sighed louder and forced a down cast expression onto his face. Ziva spun round in her chair and raised an eyebrow.

"I see your finished your paperwork Agent David"

"Why yes Tony I have, you see I have some organisational skills and a little something known as an attention span, unlike yourself." she shot him a cheeky grin and zipped up her rucksack. Tony pulled a face and leant back in his chair.

"You know Ziva, if I was of a more sensitive disposition I would be offended by that however I am made of sterner stuff . . ."

"Well GOOD Tony, I'm very happy that I did not hurt your feelings, it would have weighed heavily on my mind all evening." Ziva chuckled

"You know I never said my feelings weren't hurt, they are, very much so but don't worry- I have the perfect way for you to make it up to me" He leant forward and waved his hand across his desk "By helping finish these!" He plastered his most genial smile across his face.

"As tempting as that sounds I am going to have to turn you down." Ziva laughed, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she stood up to put on her jacket.

"Hmmmmm I have been observing your recent behaviour agent David, using my razor sharp investigative skills, you know, noticing some. . . Changes in your comings and goings and what not …"

"Tony, do you have a point or are your just going to ramble on indefinitely because if you are I would very much like leave now." Slinging her rucksack over her shoulder she stepped out from behind her desk but was prevented from leaving when Tony shot to his feet and moved in front of her, eyes narrowed as though he were examaning her face.

"Aha you see this is exactly what I was talking about, the impatience, the eagerness to leave bang on time . . ."

"So I have plans so what Tony" she tried to dodge him but he cut her off again.

"All of a sudden you have urgent plans, important plans? To do what I wonder, or perhaps . . . who? You know, we're partners there should be no secrets between us if I had a new _friend_ I would tell you." Ziva stepped back and looked up at him, arms folded across her chest.

"Well _actually _ Tony I seem to remember you keeping a rather large secret about a girlfriend from me, in fact everyone . .." Tony opened his mouth but she quickly raised her hand to prevent him complaining, "HOWEVER I am not interested in arguing about that again so to satisfy your nosiness, a friend is visiting D.C for a while O.K?

"HA I knew I'd break you, a man friend? Oooh a girl friend, you two having cosy little sleepovers?"

"Uh good night Tony, enjoy your paperwork" she smiled and stepped round him.

"Oh come on, just half an hour-many hands make light work! We'll be done in no time huh what do you say?"

"Ha sorry Tony I have to go" She spun round whilst walking towards the lift, "I am late for a sleepover." Tony watched her step into the lift, smiling to himself before he turned back to his desk and the smile disappeared just as fast as it had appeared.

"Well well good morning my traitor partner, how was your sleepover last night, you know the one you abandoned me to go to, I was here for HOURS last night-as though you care!" Tony flung his arm to his forehead with a dramatic flair. McGee and Ziva ignored his display as they walked towards their desks. "Huh well I see we are all in happy chatty moods this morning" He sat up and took a sip of his coffee, "No honestly let me get a word in guys jeez what's wrong with you two this morning? Did your sleepover go wrong? You two have a little falling out? Oooh or a cat catfight, bit of slapping maybe?"

"Sometimes Tony I really wonder what goes on inside that twisted little head of yours, did you just sit there last night imagining me and a friend fighting?"

"huh well y'know. . ." He got a far away look in his eyes and fell silent for a few seconds before spinning round to face McGee,

"I say Probie did you know our secretive colleague here had a friend visiting?" McGee was struggling out of his coat.

"Uh sure, they've been here for what, a week?"

"Wait wait wait-you told HIM?" He shot up and spread his arms wide, gesturing towards McGee indignantly.

"Oh feeling left Out DiNozzo, It's no your fault I just give people a sense of security, it encourages them to open up, share their secrets It's just my air of trustiness . . ."

"Oh for goodness sake-it was not a secret! I am not hiding things from you Tony, you are just so paranoid!"

"Oh yeah that's not the way it seems to me-mysterious secret guests, mysterious secret plans all week, mysterious secret plans last night are you seeing a pattern? I am, a mysterious . . . And secret pattern." He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

"Oh well yes Tony, you are doing an excellent job of proving you are not paranoid! But actually, if you must know I did not meet with them last night-they took a, a, wetcheck no wait that is not right, a raincheck, yes?. . . Well anyway we did not go out last night."

"Oh! Oh! You have a friend all the way over here from Israel, to a strange city and they STILL find something else to do and blow you off? That's harsh!" Tony snorted with laughter as he moved back towards his desk.

"I never said they were from Israel or that they knew no one else in the city Tony . . ." She stopped as her mobile phone began to ring, she raised an eyebrow and answered it. Tony lent against his desk and watched as Ziva's face contorted into various expressions, from confusion to horror to fury; he couldn't tell what was causing this extreme reaction since she was conversing in rapid Hebrew. She abruptly stood up, snatched up her bag and stormed towards the lift still yelling down the phone before disappearing inside the lift.

"What do think that's all about?" McGee looked perplexed.

"Well gee Mctrusty why don't you tell me since apparently you and Ziva are real tight now?" Tony slumped into his chair, staring into space apparently lost in thought.

About an hour later Gibbs appeared from no where and marched past them tossing, "C'mon we got one" over his shoulder. As the two agents scrambled to their feet and rushed to catch up with him he elaborated, an admiral's wife had been found dead in her bed.

"Uh was it murder boss?" Tony asked as they stepped into the lift. Gibbs fixed his eyes on him,

"Well the cut throat and the blood soaked suspect at the scene kinda points that way yeah Dinozzo"

"oh right, well y'know, you could'a said that in the first place boss . . ." Tony's voice petered out as he felt his boss' eyes drilling into him, "but that's fine we wouldn't have been going if it wasn't murder huh, probably I could have worked that out myself cause you know like a heart attack or something not really our jurisdiction eh, well actually I guess that's no ones jurisdiction really being natural . . ." He was cut off when Gibbs smacked the back of his head in his typical fashion. "oh sorry boss, I'm finished"

"Did you say they had a suspect at the scene boss?" McGee interjected before Tony could go off on another tangent.

"Yeah, she was there when the locals answered the call, neighbour noticed some blood on the path, knocked on the door and when no one answered called it in. The suspect was there when the locals arrived and hasn't said a word since.

Half an hour later they drew up outside the house which was surrounded by various police cars and on lookers eager to catch a glimpse of whatever gruesome sight had attracted so much activity onto the quiet road. They climbed out of the van and surveyed the street, on any other day it would have seemed like any other street in a well to do area, big houses set slightly back from the road, pretty gardens with carefully tended flower beds and shrubs. They ducked under the yellow tape and headed towards the front door, they were almost there when a stocky man stepped out pushed his sunglasses onto his head and asked "Agent Gibbs?"

"Yeah and this is agents Dinozzo and McGee"

"Right, I'm Detective Peterson, the vic's upstairs third door on the left-it's real messy up their wheeww clean slice right through throat arterial spray all over the damn place, you know I never think about how much blood is in a person till I see it spattered across the walls." the detective paused briefly but was quickly spurred on by Gibbs' questioning stare, "So anyway a couple of my guys arrived and there's this strange chick just standing in the room, covered in blood, I mean all over her face, clothes everything so y'know they arrest her she makes absolutely no attempt to escape at all and y'know they weren't sneaky about going in-they just figured some nosy-assed neighbour was just being paranoid or something so they were all "Hello Hello police blah blah" so if she'd wanted to run she coulda . . ."

"Where is she?" Gibbs sighed, having lost all patience with the policeman who was clearly taken aback by his bluntness.

"Well we got her in the kitchen just go in and turn to the right, she's not said a damn thing-not a word . . ." Gibbs strode past him and into the house. Tony followed him in turning to Peterson as he went,

"Don't take it personally, he just gets cranky when he gets a murder before coffee number 5"

"Dinozzo!!" Gibbs shouted from ahead,

"Coming boss!" Tony scurried after Gibbs,

"I thought you said she had a dentist's appointment!" Tony cocked his head and looked at his boss with an expression of complete confusion.

"What boss? . . .uh I don't follow" He turned his head to see where Gibbs was looking. Across the room was the detective's suspect, sitting up at the breakfast bar, her face and arms smeared with crimson blood.

"Well I, I, guess I could have been wrong boss . . ." Tony stuttered

"Wrong about what Tony?" McGee finally caught up after being cornered by the Detective who had recounted in great detail everything he had done since arriving at the scene, when neither answered he turned, following their eyes he too turned to face into the kitchen, "Oh boy, that's Ziva"


	2. Chapter 2

-1"McGee, get upstairs and start photographing the scene, DiNozzo with me." Gibbs barked the instructions as he started to storm across the tiled floor. "Agent David, what is this?" He slammed his hands down on the counter, she neither flinched nor looked up at her boss. "Ziva? Talk to me," he softened his voice considerably in a change of tactics.

"I have nothing to say Gibbs." Her voice was calm and level but her eyes did not move from the table.

"What are you talking about? Explain to me why, not only are you not at work, but you are at a crime scene covered in blood-you can see how this looks, you need to speak to us" He kept his voice low, realising that the policeman who had been guarding her was taking a keen interest in the scene which was unfolding.

"This is America yes? I have a right to silence." Ziva replied, she looked up from the table and met Gibbs' stare "and I will use it." With that she turned away again, her jaw set tight and a steely determination in her eyes.

"Fine, DiNozzo-take her clothes and samples of the blood all over her and then, just take her back to NCIS." Gibbs spun round and headed for the door without saying another word to Ziva.

"What the hell Ziva?" Tony spluttered, arms outstretched waving up and down around her, "I mean seriously, LOOK AT YOU! Like, what the hell??" She didn't respond in anyway, didn't even give an indicating that she was listening. "You have got to say something-what happened why are you here? If you don't we can't help you, they're going to think you did I!" Still no response, "What is wrong with you?? Say something, DO something!" Desperation was sneaking into his voice and she spun round, he looked down at her hopefully but all she did was extend her hands towards him, allowing him to take blood scrapings from under her fingernails.

Upstairs McGee was photographing the gruesome scene; the woman, Mrs Donnelley, was sprawled across the bed, arms thrown at odd angles, an oozing gash across her neck. Gibbs was standing in the door frame watching as he circled the bed carefully.

"Boss, there's a lot of blood . . ."

"Well yeah McGee, generally there is when you slit someone's throat." Gibbs replied distractedly. McGee shuddered at the word "slit" it was somehow so much more expressive and macabre sounding than cut.

"Do you, uh do you think Ziva, could have uh. . ."

"Do I think Ziva could have done this McGee?"

"Well, uh yeah Boss" He straightened up and turned to face Gibbs. The older man stared at the body for a few seconds before looking at McGee.

"She is capable of this."

"But you don't think she DID this though, right? I mean I know she's, you know . . .done some stuff . . . but I mean-murdering a navy wife in her bed by cutting her throat?" McGee gulped and looked for reassurance but instead Gibbs just returned his gaze before turning and walking out the room, leaving him alone with Mrs Donnelley.

Downstairs Tony had just finished taking the samples off of Ziva, he had tried valiantly to coax her into talking but he had been met with a wall of stony silence. He heard Ducky arriving, friendly and cheerful as usual before he met Gibbs who was obviously updating him over the situation. The Doctor's exuberant greetings were replaced with hushed tones which he strained to hear. Two minutes later Gibbs appeared with a pair of scrubs form the coroner's van and flung them across the room leaving without saying a word. Tony picked up the scrubs and turned to face Ziva,

"He is really, really angry you know, I have never seen him this pissed before, ever and I do some really, really annoying things. Well ok, I've never killed an admiral's wife before that's a whole new level you've reached" he sighed and run his eyes over her face, "Ziva, I know you didn't do this, please just say this wasn't you. I need to hear you say it, just once!" He pleaded with her but she refused to answer him. "You know, we won't be able to keep this investigation once it comes out you're the suspect. They'll take it away and give it to another team or to the locals and then they'll screw it up. They will probably just charge you with it, you could get a life sentence! At the very least you will never be able to come back to work with us after this mess-unless you EXPLAIN." He examined her closely-looking for any hint of a reaction and when there was none he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her around on the stool until she was facing him, she wouldn't look up at him so he crouched down to her level. "Ziva, I know you, maybe I don't need you to tell me-I know you didn't kill her I just don't understand why you won't talk. You may be a big bad spy but I do know you . . ." He knew he as he was talking that he was trying to convince himself of this just as much as her. Ziva's eyes finally met his but they looked strange and empty-usually he could tell a lot of what she was thinking or feeling through her eyes but today they gave away nothing.

"No Tony, you do not." her voice had a strange mechanical quality, as though she had carefully rehearsed what she was saying.

"Don't what?"

"You do not know me, you only know the person I wanted you to know."

"What? What's that meant to mean?" He straightened up slightly, her tone was beginning to unsettle him.

"Think Tony, what actually do you know about me? What I've done or what I am capable of? Not much-only what I wanted you to know-the person you know is not the whole Ziva David. You do not know me." She suddenly stood up, snatched the scrubs from him and turned her back to take of her top revealing the smooth skin of her back. However Tony was so uneasy following her chilling statement he didn't even take the opportunity to watch her undress-meekly taking her blood-soaked clothes and sealing them into their evidence bags.


	3. Chapter 3

-1Upstairs Ducky was leaning over the lifeless Mrs Donnoley while McGee lurked in the corner.

"Well Timothy, this poor woman had a very violent death, but luckily for her it was also a rather fast one." He stood up and glanced across the room, "I say my dear boy are alright, you have a most fearful expression"

"Didn't you see Ziva downstairs, all, all you know . . .bloody?"

"Ah, well no I didn't see her however Jethro did fill me in on this extremely odd situation."

What did Gibbs say? I asked if he thought Ziva did this and, well he didn't exactly say no." McGee's eyes moved towards the bed and its horrifying occupant.

"Ha well you know Jethro-it wasn't exactly a deep conversation about his personal feelings on the matter although he did seem even more gruff than usual which I assume is due to Ziva's unfortunate attitude."

"Well, do you think he thinks she did it," Mcgee stepped towards Ducky, "Do you?" he gripped his camera tightly to his cheest and waited for a response but Ducky spent a few seconds contemplating his answer.

"I take it you do not believe she is guilty?" McGee looked back at the bed and then his eyes followed the blood spatters on their grizzly trail from the body, up the walls, to where they exploded in a glorious pattern across the roof. He gulped and shifted from foot to foot,

"No, Ziva didn't do this. I know she didn't" He spoke with a conviction which until that moment he hadn't realised he held and now that he had voiced his opinion he seemed to relax, sure he had arrived at the right conclusion. Ducky smiled and raised is finger in the air,

"I share your view my dear boy, and I shall tell you why!" He turned back to wards the body, " Look at this, this has to be the messiest crime scene we have attended in quite some time no? This woman was slaughtered as she slept, throat sliced open. To me it seems personal and passionate, I fail to see what a partially clothed admiral's wife could possibly have done to upset Ziva enough to warrant this kind of rage." He smiled at the young agent, "Of course one must also take into account her, ahem, training and background . . ."

"See that's what Gibbs said; that she was "capable" of this." McGee interupped striding towards Ducky, waving a an outstretched finger before him, "But I don't think . . ."

"Don't think what McGee?" Gibbs had appeared silently at the door, "That Ziva can kill people?"

"No uh no boss I know Ziva has well, no problem killing people what I meant was that you know, this just isn't how I'd picture her doing it that's all."

"Aha! Exactly! You're absolutely right, if our mossad friend had the urge to kill someone I would wager that she ould have a much more efficient, less messy way of dispatching her unfortunate prey." The doctor looked pointedly at Gibbs, "And I absolutely do not think she would just hang around to be caught."

"You got a T.O.D Duck?" Ducky frowned slightly but obliged regardless,

"Well judging by liver temp I would say fairly recent, this morning sometime between two and four hours ago, I'll know more when I get her home."

"And what time did Ziva "go to the dentist" this morning?"

"Well I'm not quit sure boss . . ." McGee stuttered, looking at the floor.

"MCGEE"

"Well ok about two and a half hours ago but . . ." Gibbs had gone before he finished his sentence, heading back downstairs. He was just turning into the kitchen when he collided with Tony, who was on his way out.

"Oh hey Boss, was just on my way to find you!" Gibbs tilted his head expectantly at him. "Uh yeah so anyway I finished taking the eh samples from her so . . .what happens now?"

"I already told you DiNozzo, take her back to NCIS and keep her there until she decides she's finished messing around and is prepared to explain herself."

"Boss, I uh don't think she's going to talk to us she's acting really, really weird. This whole time she hasn't said anything, well she said somehing but nothing really important-it was kind of creepy." he rubbed the back of his neck and shivered slightly before noticing Gibbs' angry expression. "Well what she said didn't have anything to do with" he pointed to the roof and lowered his voice, "Y'know THAT"

"Get her in the truck, keep her quiet"

"Oh I don't think that'll be a problem Boss but I don't . . ." Tony glanced back at his partner who was carefullt washing the crusty blood of her face and hands at the sink, "oh wait I get it, you want it kept quiet that she was here?" Gibbs raised his eyebrows, "Right cause the cop never mentioned that she was an NCIS agent so obviously she wasn't carrying her badge when she was arressted so we can take her away just like we're taking her in and they won't think anything's fishy right?" Tony was relieved that there was at least a plan ot action of some sorts, a way to buy time. "We'll head now then, you staying here to talk to the husband?" Gibbs nodded,

"He's on his way-get her out of here before he arrives DiNozzo."

"On it Boss!"Tony spun round and made his way back to Ziva who was now drying herself and staring out of the window. He walked right up behind her and took her left wrist in his hand. "I'm going to handcuff you and we're going to go back to NCIS ok?" He whispered into her ear, the local cops were still hanging around, evidently intrigued by the behaviour of the agents towards their strange suspect. His mouth was close to her ear and he noticed how his breath caused the little hairs sticking out of her ponytail above it to wave slightly as he gently pulled her arm behind her back and slid her wrist into one of the cuffs. He raised his other arm to her right shoulder and began to run it down her arm, gently dragging it round towards him. She didn't resist as his hand slid past her elbow and reached he hand, where it lingered for a while before he clipped on the other cuff. He hooked his fingers around her forearm, "Right come on then," he sighed and pulled her round and led her to the front door.


	4. Chapter 4

-1

"McGEE! Get down here!" Gibb's stood at the bottom of the stairs and shouted up aas the admiral's car arrived in the driveway. McGee came rushing down instantly, anxius to start making some inroads into the investigation. He arrived just as the newly widowed man stepped out of his car and made his way towards the house, hat under his arm. Gibbs stepped forward to greet him as he entered,

"Sir, we're sorry for your loss," he extended his hand which was accepted by the admiral in a firm shake, "We have a few questions to ask if you don't mind" The other man was looking around in bewilderment at the newly arrived NCIS investigators swarming over his home.

"It seemed like a good idea, to say that I would come here to talk to you rather than the other way around but now. . .My wife, is she upstairs? Can I see her?" he looked pleadingly at Gibbs.

"Actually, I'm not sure that's a good idea-the coroner is with her now but maybe . . . Later." Gibbs stepped back from the admiral who was staring upstairs towards the bedroom. "The questions won't take long but if you would be more comfortable we could go somewhere else?"

" Oh no here's fine Agent Gibbs, shall we go through to the kitchen?" Donnelley had already turned away before Gibbs had a chance to agree, suddenly brightening up. The two agents followed him through the house until he stopped by the sink, "Can I offer you gentlemen a drink?"

"Uh no, no we're fine-we'll just get started."

"Oh right ok then, what is it you want to know? I don't know what to tell you. Mary was a wonderful person, I mean we were having some problems, obviously,-I can't understand why . . . Why this has happened to us." Donnelly seemed to crumple before their eyes as he sunk onto a stool by the breakfast bar.

"You and your wife weren't happy?" Gibbs raised his eyebrows and leant against he bar.

"Well, no, I would have thought that was obvious?"

"Why would you say that? The admiral looked up and darted his eyes uncertainly between Gibbs and McGEE.

"Oh it's alright I knew about the affair you don't need to spare my feelings- was coming back to me, we were going to try again you know."

"You're wife was having an affair?" Gibbs stood up straight and moved round in front of Donnelly, "With who?"

"WEll who do you think? Who else would it have been?" Donnelly's eyes flashed with anger and his lip curled in disgust, "The cop who informed me said that they'd found a suspect at the scene and I just assumed that working out that maybe a guy who had spent the night just MIGHT have been having an affair with my wife wasn't exactly groundbreaking police work!" During his outburst the admiral had leapt to his feet and was waving his arms around wildly, but Gibbs just watched calmly before saying,

"Actually, the person who was found here this morning was a woman, I take it she's not the "guy" your wife is having an affair with?" Donnelly dropped back to his stool and furrowed his brows,

"What? A girl?" he swivelled so that he was facing the bar and folded his arms onto it. "I, I, I don't understand, I'm sorry-when I heard suspect on the scene at that time I just assumed it was him. A woman?"

"Ok, you need to explain the situation to us admiral"

"WEll, Mary and I, well we separated a while back. You see I was away a lot and well you know how it goes she found some . . .company. But now I got this permanent post here in D.C so we were going to try again you know? She was going to tell this guy that it was over this week and we, we, we were going to go to Aruba for two weeks next Wednesday. I guess I just assumed he hadn't taken it that well."

"Who is this guy, you gotta name?

"Huh, yeah I gotta name, you know what the worst part is? I INTRODUCED them, I dragged Mary along to this emabassy function. I can't remember what it was for but she didn't want to come guess she was glad she did in the end though! She met him there, he was only around for about a week then she said-went back to Israel. . ."

"Israel?" McGee blurted out.

"Yeah, it was at the Israeli embassy, anyway this Israeli guy comes across every so often for conferences and such at the embassy, every time takes her out for a meal here a theatre trip there. She said she was just lonely while I was posted over seas-my fault of course! We tried a separation a couple of months ago, one day she just informed me that she wants a divorce, wants to marry this guy! We talked for a while and then we agreed to just try a trial separation-see how that goes before we take it to the courts. Anyway couple of weeks ago she realises that she does love me and wants us to try agian! Mary said that . . .he was coming over to the states this weekend anyway so she'd break it off then-didn't want to do it over the phone, she was too sweet to do that! Oh God. . . Mary . . ." he finished talking as his voice began to break with emotion.

"Admiral-his name?"

" His name is Akim Caspit. He's a real piece of work too, I had a PI investigate him-looking for something to take to Mary, show her he was just a slime ball and you know what he found out? He has another woman here in D.C! Two woman in one city! And I bet he travels all over the world he must have fooled hundreds of sweet women like Mary." Gibbs sighed and prepared to ask the question he and McGee already suspected the answer to,

"What's this other woman's name?"

"Well I don't know, why do you think she's involved in this? Was it her you found?" he looked up eagerly at them, "I don't know much about her, I have pictures though hold on, they're in my car," He stood out and headed for the door leaving Gibbs and McGee alone in the kitchen,

"Even if it's her in the pictures boss, it doesn't mean she did it. . ."

"Yeah I know McGee-makes an even bigger mess though." Gibbs sighed and turned towards the sound of the admiral's approaching footsteps.

"Here we are, my PI took these the other day" Donnelly placed his briefcase onto the breakfast bar, opened it and pulled out a brown envelope, emptying its contents onto the surface. He spread them out as Gibbs and McGee leant forward to get a better look and what they saw confirmed their fears. They were all pictures of Ziva relaxed and happy, laughing with a handsome man.


	5. Chapter 5

-1Tony was sitting in a swivel chair spinning round and round in Abby's lab looking dejected.

"Tony, don't you have work to do? Shouldn't you be out there proving Ziva didn't do this? Because no offence but your moping is totally getting in the way of my work." Abby unfolded her arms and grabbed his chair, forcing him to stop.

"I don't know where to start-she won't talk so I though maybe I could help you , y'know work stuff out with all your machines and what nots?" he looked around the room uncertainly.

"No Tony, nuh-uh see normally I would try and be nice about this cause I know you're stressing about Ziva but I have no time for you just now-I gotta process all this evidence to prove she's innocent!" she turned to her computer and put up some of the crime scene pictures McGee had emailed, "Maybe you could go sit with Ziva for a while-see if she'll talk now she's back here?" Abby suggested as she flicked through the photos.

"Nah, she's being to weird-it's freaking me out a bit, she hasn't said a word all morning, just stares." He tilted his head and leaned back into his chair, "You know you're handling this awfully well Abbs, where's the panic? The running round talking to machines? THE FARTING HIPPO?"

"Toneeee, you know his name! Bert is here look he's sitting up there sending me good vibes." She pointed to a shelf on the wall behind him, "And I am not panicking because this is not our first time in this situation, if I went totally crazy EVERY time you guys got arrested or investigated I would never get any work done-remember when all the evidence said you were a murderer? When that policeman got shot and everyone blamed McGee? Who got you off? Oh yeah that's right me and my amazing skills! . . ." She was about to continue when Tony cut her off,

"Yeah but we didn't do it" he muttered. Abby spun round ,

"What did you just say?" She marched towards him and smacked the back of his head, "How could you say that about Ziva?"

"Well I'm sorry but she was at the scene, covered in blood and refuses to talk! What else am I supposed to think?" He spun towards the counter and put his head in his hands.

"That your amazing forensic scientist has saved the day again!"

"What? You have? She didn't? How?" He leapt up and rushed to the computer screens displaying the bloody pictures, "What am I looking at Abbs? How does this mean Ziva didn't do it?"

"Well what do you see Tony?"

"Blood-lots of blood" he screwed his up and stepped back from the screen.

"Well yeah Tony but what about the blood? Maybe that it's all over the roof?

"It's all over everything!"

"But from the arterial spray in the roof we can work out the position of the victim when she was murdered . . ."

"We already knew that she was on the bed Abby!" Tony slumped back towards his chair.

"Well if you don't want to hear the rest then I'll just wait for Gibbs" Abby said sulkily.

"No sorry Abbs, keep going I'm listening"

"Well anyway look at Ziva's clothes" they both turned to where Abby had spread the stained t-shirt that Tony had taken down earlier.

"Again LOTS OF BLOOD" Tony ran his hand through his hair, failing to see where Abby was going with this.

"But is there any spray pattern though?"

"Well no but maybe she slit the throat from behind and then got bloody when the body fell back onto the bed"

"WRONG! From the spray on the roof we can tell that the vic was lying down when she was killed and therefore whoever did would have spray on their clothing but Ziva didn't!" Abby grinned triumphantly at him, "You see, she IS innocent!" Tony smiled briefly before his face clouded over again;

"But if she did get spray on her, couldn't she have just smeared more blood to cover it up?"

"Well yeah . . .she could have but she would have it on her face too and she just had little smears, stop trying to rain on parade Tony!-I'll find more evidence that she didn't do it and when McGee and Gibbs get back I bet they'll have a more positive attitude to this than you . . ."

"I wouldn't count on that Abby." McGee appeared through the door clutching the brown envelope in his hands.

"What do you mean McGee, you don't think she did it to do you?" Abby looked pleadingly at him.

"Well no,I don't think she did it but . . ."

"You see Tony-that's a loyal friend, he hasn't just abandoned her just because . . ."

"BUT we just got more evidence that she might have." McGee interrupted her before she could continue her attack on Tony's defeatist attitude.

"What? What evidence?" he grabbed the envelope from McGee, "In here? What is it?" he started to open it up,

"They're photos Tony" Tony stopped what he was doing and glanced up,

"photos of what?" he asked uncertainly,

"Of Ziva and her . . . Boyfriend."

"Her WHAT?" Tony finished tearing open the envelope and then paused again, "But no, she, she doesn't have a boyfriend. We would have known, she would have said . . ." his voice faded when his eyes met McGee's.

"We think that he is the "friend" she said was visiting, seems like he was also "friends" with the admirals wife. . ."

"This guy was CHEATING on ZIVA?" Abby spluttered from behind Tony's shoulder.

"Looks that way Abby" McGee answered as Tony poured the pictures onto the counter and spread them out to get a better view. He almost wished he hadn't when he saw them. In every one Ziva looked happier than he could ever remember seeing her. They had been taken all over the city, one was them strolling along the street outside her apartment, the man had an arm wrapped around her shoulder, holding her close, and was smiling as he said something in her ear which was making her laugh, head thrown back. Another was them in a park the man was dressed as though they had been out on for a run but it wasn't clear what Ziva was wearing since she was just a blur. She was sitting on a swing and had wound the chains round and round causing the swing to spin her round fast, her legs were thrown out at strange angles and the man was doubled over in laughing at her. Yet another, from later that morning it seemed, caught a moment where it looked as though he had been chasing her and caught her round the waist. Her legs were curled up underneath her as he dragged her through the air back to his chest, her eyes were shut and her mouth was open in a playful scream. There were more and Tony examined them all carefully, she looked so happy, her expressions seemed almost childlike as she played with the stranger. He had never seen her look this relaxed and content, maybe she was right. Maybe he did only know certain parts of her.

"Who is this?" His voice was barely a whisper.

"His name is Akim Caspit, he's some kind of ambassador or something, Gibbs is up in MTAC just now trying to talk to someone at the Israeli Embassy. Where's Ziva . . .maybe we should ask her about this guy, see if she knows where he is? The admiral seems to think she killed his wife out of jealousy . .."

"Ziva is in an interrogation room, I'll go and ask her about these, you stay here and help Abby" Tony grabbed up the photos and strode out of the room. McGee sighed flopped down into a chair, Abby closed her eyes and raised her hands in the air, "McGee, if you are going to sit here and mope around like Tony you can't stay-you must have positive and cheerful thoughts or else I won't be able to concentrate."

"I am positive!" McGee straightened up with an offended look on his face, "I'm practically the only one that thinks she didn't do it, you saw what Tony is like-I never thought he would give up so fast and . . . "

"That's the spirit Timmy!" Abby grabbed his arm and dragged him to the computers, "Here you look for some dirt on this Akim guy-he sounds like a real slime ball, and I'll finish off my blood samples to show that this guy did it-not Ziva!" She happily turned away when McGee added,

"But why was she at the scene then?" Abby stopped and spun round abruptly.

"What did I just say?" she advanced on him menacingly, eyes narrowed, "Positive" she poked his shoulder hard, "and happy" another poke, "Thoughts McGee" with a final prod she stepped back and frowned at him,

"Right, ok, I'm positive and happy," He said, swivelling his chair under the desk, beginning his search for Akim.


	6. Chapter 6

**I just realised that I hadn't even typed the title of this in poperly, all this time I was thinking it was strange that the full title didn't come up in my emails-** ** how dense am I!? sorry!  
**

Meanwhile Tony was in the lift, looking at through the pictures again. Every time he looked like a picture the woman looking back at him seemed more and more like a stranger. He studied her and saw how her eyes were filled with pure joy, even in the ones where she wasn't laughing her face just looked so happy and relaxed. He had thought that he could make her laugh, that her life here with them made her happy. That he made her happy. But when he saw her with this man he realised that he must have been imagining it; assuming she was content because he had never seen her look truly happy-like she was in the pictures, with Akim. He turned his attention to the man and the more he stared at him the angrier he became. Was Ziva taking the blame for him? It didn't seem like a Ziva-type thing to do but as the day progressed it was becoming clear that really, he didn't know what a Ziva-type thing was. At the very least he had been cheating on her, although why on earth anyone would ever, ever cheat on a woman like that was beyond him. If Ziva looked at him the way she looked at Akim Tony knew no woman could ever tempt him away from her. He sighed and put the pictures back in their envelope as the lift reached his floor, wondering whether she would talk to him now, tell him it was all a misunderstanding-she hadn't killed the woman, she didn't have a boyfriend and that he did know her well.

He reached the interogation room door, took in a deep breath and pushed it open. Ziva was still sitting there, one arm handcuffed to her chair, just in case. She looked over at him and then at the envelope before returning her eyes to the double sided mirror.

"Is there anyone back there?" he moved towards the seat facing her.

"No, we're trying to keep it quiet that you were there." he sank into his chair, "Do you have anything say to me?"

"No, not yet." She replied quietly.

"Not yet? Why not yet?" he leaned towards her, "Ziva?" She sighed and raised her right arm, the one cuffed to the chair.

"You know this is pointless yes? If I wanted to go this would not stop me?" Tony smiled slightly despite the situation,

"Yeah, yeah I know." his smile faded and opened up the envelope and pulled out its contents, holding them so she couldn't see what they were. "You're sure you don't want to tell me anything?" she just stared back at him, "About your boyfriend?" he had hoped for a reaction but she remained impassive so he spread out the pictures in front of her. She lent forward and glanced over them.

"Where did you get these?" she asked quietly.

"The admiral had a P.I follow your boyfriend, you did know he was cheating on you right?" She continued to look at the pictures, eyes lingering on each one for a few seconds before gliding onto the next. "Well of course you did! That's why you killed the woman right? Cause your boyfriend was banging her?" she didn't even blink when he said this, when he openly accused her of murder, just continued taking in the photos.

"You think I killed her because I was jealous?" her voice had a tinge of amusement in it but she still didn't look up. "Look at Akim's face, you think that he does not love me?" Tony snorted,

"If you love someone you don't cheat on them, especially when you get as little time together as you and Akim do. If I was him I would want to spend every possible second with you." she glanced up at him, a small smile on her face.

"oh would you DiNozzo?"

"Well yeah, if I was your boyfriend I wouldn't be running round Mary Donnelly's house the second I landed, I mean sure she was pretty and all but she wasn't . . . beautiful." he realised what he had said the second it had left his mouth, he just hoped she thought he was talking hypothetically,

"And I am?" she was on to him.

"Well, yeah . . . You're hotter than her anyway." he shifted in his chair uneasily. "Weren't you jealous he was spending his time here with her? Cheating on you?"

"No, not jealous. He was with her during the day while I was at work and then in the evening he is with me." she spoke in a matter of fact tone, as though they were discussing something trivial.

"And you were ok with that?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Well yes, it worked out rather well."

"Yeah until last night, when he chose her over you, that what pushed you over the edge? Hmmm? Decided you'd take out the competition?"

"Tony, do you think that I am guilty?" she asked bluntly, cocking her head waiting for him to respond. He opened is mouth and then shut it and sighed.

"I . . . I am not sure that you didn't do it Ziva." he spoke quietly and watched her reaction, her face remained clear but he was sure he saw flash of something in her eyes; anger? Disappointment? Hurt?

"You have given up on me already? I thought you had more loyalty than that Tony" There was no hint of emotion in her voice, it was dull and neutral.

"Well maybe you don't know me that well either Officer David" He retorted childishly. She smiled and nodded slightly.

"Perhaps I do not. Have you spoken with Akim yet?

"Nope,can't find him-Gibbs is trying to track him down now. Seems like he's done a runner, left you to face the music alone"

"Well if I killed this woman why would he not?"

"Will you please just say if you did it or not Ziva? Either way I'll help you-it's the not knowing that's killing me!" Tony gave up trying to act coldly towards her, begging her to talk to him.

"Tony, do you think if my boyfriend was cheating on me with someone that I would go to her house and slit HER throat while she was asleep?"

"Ziva, I think we have established that I do not know what to think!" Tony rubbed his forehead with his palm. "What's going on? Would you just try to say something that makes even the tiniest, teensiest but of sense?" she looked up at him sympathetically,

"Tony , I am . . . " she had just started to speak when the door swung open and McGee stuck his head into the room.

"Uh Tony, Gibbs wants to speak to us." Tony sighed and gathered up the photos, stuffing them back into the envelope. McGee stood back as he brushed wordlessly past then turned to Ziva with a limp smile on his face.

"You ok Ziva?" she smiled up at him.

"I am fine McGee, thank you,"

"Well, I know you didn't kill that woman and I'm sure you have good reasons for not saying anything, just so you know." He flashed her a brief smile and backed out of the room and shut the door, leaving Ziva alone.

"Well?" Gibbs fixed his stare on Tony as he walked into the bullpen.

"She still won't admit or deny she did it." Tony sighed as he reached Gibbs desk, "What did you find on this guy?" He waved the envelope in the air as McGee appeared behind him.

"Well he grew up in the same area as Ziva, they attended the same school so I guess that's how they know each other." He paused expectantly.

"oh right well there you go, case closed!" Tony exclaimed.

"I'm not finished Tony, he was also in Mossad, it's kinda hard to get any specific details on his service but I do know that he has been making regular trips to here in the last two years to attend various kinds of functions and conferences." He finished as Gibbs stood up and moved towards the plasma screen, flashing up an image of Akim's passport.

"The embassy say they haven't heard from him since yesterday . . ."

"Well of course they're going to say that!" Tony blurted out. Gibbs spun round and raised his eyebrows at him,

"They also said that if they do they will inform us and if we find him he's ours, they will not interfere with our investigation."

"What? Are they serious?"

"Well, apparently he's not very popular at the embassy. He's meant to keep things friendly with the all the big wigs so having an affair with and admiral's wife is probably not the smartest thing he coulda done." He had just finished when his phone rang he answered it and Tony and McGee could hear high pitched squealing from the other end. Gibbs winced and placed it back in its cradle..

"I take it Abby's got something boss?" Tony asked as he followed Gibbs of the bullpen with McGee in tow.

"I TOLD YOU! Didn't I tell you? I knew she didn't do it" Abby screeched as they walked into the lab, she continued before they had a chance to respond. "I tested Donnelly's blood and she had sleeping pills in her system!" The three men looked at her blankly.

"Well yeah Abbs, she had a prescription for them, that was kinda anticlimactic." Tony sighed and turned away to leave the room.

"No, like A LOT of sleeping pills, well not A LOT like enough to kill her but loads and loads-enough to almost kill her and at least enough to totally knock her out for a long time!" she paused, "You see, Ziva didn't do it? Why would she go round, poison her and then go back to slit her throat?" she grinned at them and spread her arms out widely "Kinda hopin for a reaction guys."

"Well, doesn't exactly prove she didn't do it Abby, just that . . ." Tony started off but was quickly interrupted by McGee.

"What 's wrong with you? Why are you so convinced it was her? When everyone thought she had set that bomb off you were one hundred percent convinced she was innocent but this time you're jumping on every little detail that even slightly incriminates her! Why can't you just for a second look at this with a positive attitude?" Tony gaped at McGee as the room fell into silence.

"Woah . . .I don't think I've ever heard you shout Timmy!" Abby's voice was full of admiration as she spoke before her tone turned swiftly as she addressed Tony.

"And he's right, what's your problem? Every time we get a little bit of good news you totally bring us down!" She crossed her arms and frowned at him.

"It's not that I don't think she's innocent it's just that it doesn't look good. .." Abby narrowed her eyes, "Right, I'm going to go see if she'll talk yet," Tony stalked out of the room.

"You know you were kinda scary for a minute there McGee, it was kinda sexy" McGee blushed ,

"Well, you know I . . ."

"MCGEE" McGee and Abby spun round to face Gibbs, arms behind their backs.

"Uh sorry boss I was just . .."

"Did you find her pills at the scene?"

"Uh no boss, didn't see any sleeping pills in the cabinets . . .But I'll go back and check again" He hurried out of the room, avoiding Gibbs' stare.

"Did she take all the pills herself Abby or was she drugged?"

"Ducky's sending up her stomach contents now. . ." Gibbs nodded and left before Abby had a chance to finish her sentence.


	7. Chapter 7

-1Tony walked in and sat across from Ziva without saying a word. She watched him with interest as he loosened his tie and lent back in his seat.

"Not going to say hello Ziva? No Questions abut the investigation?" He stared up at the ceiling as he spoke.

"You look tired." he moved his eyes down to her face.

"Oh really DO I?? maybe, maybe that's because my partner is keeping secrets from me, big secrets, like maybe she killed someone? Cause you know that is kinda stressful." she laughed lightly.

"Oh right, you are always honest with me?" He slammed his palms down on the table as he stood up.

"MORE HONEST THAN YOU ARE!" Ziva jerked her head back and raised her eyebrows,

"Woah . . ." she exhaled and ran a hand through her hair, "you know Tony, I think you are taking this too personally."

"What? What's that meant to mean?"

"I think that you are taking the fact that I have not said anything about this as a personal slight against you, it is not." Tony shook his head and rolled his eyes,

"Fine." They sat in silence for a few minutes, Ziva staring intently at Tony while he carefully avoided making eye contact.

"Sooo, are you going to tell me anything about the investigation then?"

"Huh, if you're not going to talk about it why should I?" Tony retorted sulkily, folding his arms defensively.

"Fine." a further silence enveloped them until Tony finally spoke again.

"Seems like old Akim wasn't too popular with the embassy though, maybe you saw something special in him that others didn't though hmmm? Still must be a bit off before the embassy won't even help him." A flash of anger flew across Ziva's face before it softening again,

"It is true, he has many enemies and few friends."

"And why was that?" Tony leant forward eagerly,

"He was a, a, uhhhm hornblower?" Tony looked at her blankly, "He found out about some bad, _ahem _. . . practises in Mossad, his team were not exactly following the rules so he exposed them, you know, blew the horn on them."

"He blew the whistle."

"Right, exactly, whistleblower! Anyway, once you tell on your team even when they are not good it is hard to find people who will trust you again."

"So that's how he ended up schmoozing big cheeses instead of doing real spy work then?" She nodded, "So, we can assume that the embassy won't help him leave the country then." Ziva snorted,

"He does not need their help." Tony was surprised by the sudden tinge of malice which had appeared in her voice and so changed the subject.

"Abby is convinced that you are innocent, so is McGee" She laughed loudly and rested her chin in her hand,

"Good, I'm glad that at least some of you are on my side."

"Ziva, I am on your side. I would just be more on your side if I had any idea what was going on inside your head!"

"Why are they so convinced that I am innocent while you are not?"

"Well Abby says that the blood splatter shows you POSSIBLY didn't do it and then she found a high dose of sleeping pills in the victim's blood." He hadn't been looking at her as he spoke but following her lack of reaction he glanced up. She had leant her head down into her palms, completely obscuring her face. She suddenly sat up, her face awash with relief.

"Sleeping pills!"

"Uh yeah, that's what I said." Tony tilted his head, face screwed up in confusion.

"I knew it, I knew he had not killed that woman! Sleeping pills of course!" She was shaking her head gently.

"Yes, of course, sleeping pills" Tony repeated uncertainly but when this was not answered by an explanation he continued, "Ziva . . . Want to bring me up to speed maybe?"

"I should have known! He was drugged yes? It is so obvious, I should have known!" She continued to shake her head ruefully, as though annoyed she hadn't worked this out earlier.

"Ziva, seriously, explain."

"This mooring Akim called me, panicking and when I got to the address he told me he was covered in blood and showed me the body. He said they went to bed, everything is fine but when he woke up she was like this. He said he did not hear anything. Now I suppose he seemed a little uhmmm groggy? Yes? But I was a little distracted by all the blood."

"So you didn't kill that woman then?" Tony sighed as relief washed over him, Ziva frowned at him.

"No Tony, I did not kill her. Why on earth would I have killed her?"

"What? I don't know! Why couldn't you just have said that in the first place?"

"Because, I thought maybe Akim had done it." She replied simply. Tony waited for her to continue but she didn't.

"So, what, you were going to take the blame for it? Let him get away with it while you . . ."

"No, I was just you know, buying him some time so he could get away. He may not have many friends here or at home but we still have some . . . elsewhere." she fixed her eyes on him as he began to chuckle to himself disbelievingly.

"I can't believe this. I can't believe you." he shook his head slowly, "You would actually do this to help your boyfriend escape justice for killing the woman he's banging behind your back. This is unbelievable." Ziva smiled at him,

"He is not my boyfriend Tony."

"What? Of course he is, I saw the pictures, you said . . ."

"I did not say he was my boyfriend, you jumped to that conclusion yourself and I simply did not correct you." He stared at her coldly, careful not to display the relief that was flooding through him in response to her revelation.

"He's not? Then who is he then?"

"He is just a very old friend from home, my best fiend." her voice faded away towards the end of her sentence and she carefully avoided his probing stare. "We, had a bit of a fight last night, he . . ."

The door swung open, interrupting him yet again and Gibbs stuck his head in and gestured for Tony to come with him. Tony stood up slowly and followed him out, shutting the door behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

-1When Tony shut the door to the interogation room Gibbs was already halfway down the corridor so Tony trotted to catch up, "Yeah boss?"

"She say anything?" he asked taking a swig of coffee as they walked.

"Well yeah actually," Gibbs came to a sudden stop and fixed his icy stare on Tony,

"And?"

"She says that she didn't do it." He paused awaiting a reaction,

"Uh-huh" was all he got

"Well anyway she said that her best buddy Akim seemed groggy when she got their, said that he hadn't heard anything. Even though there was a dead body in bed with him." Gibbs looked thoughtful for a moment, "So either they were drugged or he's lying, or she's lying" Tony added quickly.

"I doubt that a mossad officer would need to drug his girlfriend in order to cut her throat Tony."

"So . . . What you think we're looking for someone else then boss?" just then Gibbs' mobile began to vibrate on his belt.

"Yeah"

"_Hey boss, No sign of the wine bottle but I did find something in the trash,"_

"What is it McGee?"

"_A cork, looks like it came from a bottle of red wine."_

"From the wine in Donnelly's stomach?"

"_I dunno boss but it's the only thing I can find, the glasses are all clean but I'll take them back too just in case."_

"Ok" Gibbs snapped his phone shut and slipped it back into its holster as they reached the lift. "Go and see if Abby has anymore for us." Gibbs ordered as Tony stepped inside.

"Uh ok, where are you going?" Tony asked as the doors started to shut.

"Out" was all he heard before Gibbs disappeared behind the doors.

"Well ok then, glad we're all being so open and clear." he grumbled as the elevator reached Abby's lab.

"Well DiNozzo, I hope that you have had a thorough attitude adjustment because this area is strictly for Ziva fans!" she was looking at him critically, eyes narrowed.

"Ok, ok, maybe I was wrong to believe she was involved so easily, I admit it." he sighed, Abby squealed and lurched towards him to pull him into a rough hug,

"Ah-I knew you'd come around, you would never abandon her." she grinned at him widely, she could always be relied upon for swift forgiveness.

"Yeah well I'm still not happy she's been lying to me all day." he grumbled.

"Not _lying_ exactly Tony, just not talking right, there's a difference." she began to type something into her computer,

"Well she's not keeping quiet anymore," Abby snapped her head round to face him,

"Ooooh, what she say? Tell me, tell me!" she scrambled excitedly into her chair and looked at him excitedly, "Ok, I want a blow by blow account."

By the time McGee arrived back Abby was fully u to speed and grinned welcomingly at McGee as he came in clutching evidence bags.

"Guess what Timmy?" she said eagerly.

"What" McGee looked at her suspiciously,

"You're little pep talk turned Tony around,"

"Really?" McGee asked brightly,

"Well that and y'know, Ziva talking to him again but I reckon it was mostly you and your big scary man voice." McGee turned to Tony,

"She said something, what did she say?"

"Well not a whole lot just that . . ."

"GUYS! Hello, is that not some evidence that needs my urgent attention?"

"Oh right yeah, here you go Abbs," McGee handed over the bags, "Gibbs says to start with the cork,"

"Ok then." she placed the bags on the counter and then removed the cork and began to peer at it intensely before turning back to them, "Ladies, you may continue your gossiping while I get some real work done."

Tony had just finished repeating Ziva's words again when Abby shouted out for them to come over.

"Look, look at this!" she yelled brandishing the cork under their noses.

"Uh yeah I just see the cork Abbs what is it?" Tony screwed up his face while McGee craned his neck trying to get a better look at it.

"uh fine do you see now?" she placed the cork back under her microscope and the image was displayed on one of the computer screens, "Look jujus here." she pointed at a dark speck on the wine stained bottom.

"What is it?"

"THAT my friends, I believe, is a puncture hole." she proclaimed proudly. "Someone injected something into the wine, I assume a solution of the sleeping pills."

"Huh that's good work Abbs," Tony squinted at the screen, "Any prints on it?"

"Well . . . No" there was a couple of moments of silence before Gibbs appeared behind them.

"So?"

"There's a puncture hole in the cork,"

"Someone injected something into the wine." he finished off her sentence.

"So what now boss?" asked Tony.

"Donnelley's sister said that she had no intention of going back to her husband."

"What? When did you find that out?" Tony exclaimed.

"Just now, when I was out." Gibbs replied calmly.

"Huh right." he looked back at the screen, "Oh wait, so what does this mean, they're not getting back together, no holiday, so the admiral lied then soooo. . ." he trailed off.

"So go get him then." Gibbs gestured towards the door.

"Right yeah we'll go get him." Tony and McGee headed out of the room.

An hour later the admiral was sitting in an interogation room, his face black with fury.

"He does not look happy." McGee commented to Tony as they watched him through the mirror.

"Well it's about to get worst for him." Tony added as Gibbs entered the room, as soon as he did the admiral sprung to his feet.

"Agent Gibbs, just what the hell do you think you're doing? You can't just send your people to arrest an admiral with no evidence." Gibbs sat down and looked up at the irate figure.

"We didn't arrest you, you're assisting with our inquiries." He paused and took a sip out of his coffee, "Don't you want to find out who killed her?" The admiral seemed deflated and shifted from foot to foot,

"Well yes of course I do." he sighed and sat back down, plastering a wide smile onto his face. "How can I help."

"Well, we're just confirming your wife's relationship with Akim Caspit."

"HE was her boyfriend, but she was leaving him though, coming back to me."

"Oh yeah , you two were going away is that right."

"yeah." the admiral began to seem less sure of himself, nervously flicking his eyes around the room.

"You see, I spoke to her sister and she says Mary had no plans to come back to you at all., she did not seem to have a very high opinion of you at all," Gibbs leant forward in his chair,

"Yeah well that bitch never liked me, Mary probably just hadn't told her since, since, since she new Jessica doesn't like me. She probably didn't want her to start sticking her nose in you know?"

"Oh yeah, I know all about in-laws." Gibbs paused, "The thing is," he opened the file and began leafing through it, "We can't find any record of a holiday in your bank records," He looked back up, staring the admiral right in the eye, "Your bank doesn't like you either huh?" he asked incredulously.

"Well I, I, we only just decided to go, we hadn't booked it yet."

"You hadn't booked a holiday that you said you were going on next Wednesday?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah you know, it was a spontaneous decision."

"Really? You know when I think you made spontaneous decision? When you decided to slit your wife's throat." The admiral jerked his head back in shock,

"WHAT?? That's it, I'm leaving." He leapt to his feet,

"SIT BACK DOWN!" Gibbs voice caused the admiral to stop in his tracks and sneer at Gibbs,

"Who the hell do you think you are? What gives you the right to talk to ME like that?"

"The fact that you murdered your wife." Gibbs answered without missing a beat. "Her sister said that she had been drinking since your split, a bottle of wine most nights, sometimes more. Which you knew, so you decide to lace her wine with her pills so it looked like she killed herself."

"No"

"But then you go round the next day to plant a suicide letter, but you find her still alive, but not alone. You didn't expect Akim to be their but then you realised you could use this to your advantage, kill her and frame him, two birds with one stone."

"No, no that's not true!"

"You realised they must have split the wine, that they had enough in their system to keep them knocked out for a while so you slit her throat, leaving him to take the blame." Donnelley lent back, folding his arms across his chest.

"You can't prove anything, you have no evidence."

"You sure?"

"Yeah because it-wasn't-ME"

"You know, when you write something on your computer and then think you delete it, it doesn't actually always disappear." the admiral's face froze,

"So"

"So when you faked your wife's suicide note, you sent it to the recycle bin instead of deleting it." The admiral sank slowly back into his chair, shaking his head. Gibbs shut the file and got to his feet, stepping towards the door.

"Wait, I just don't understand. Who was the woman that was there this morning?"

"I think, she is the least of your concerns at the moment, admiral."


	9. Chapter 9

-1

Gibbs walked into the interogation room and roughly dropped her rucksack on the desk. He stood in front of Ziva and she looked up him expectantly. "Are you a member of this team, Officer David?" She flinched slightly.

"Yes"

"Really? You didn't act that way today." He turned away from her staring into the two way mirror. "Today you did everything you could to make life difficult for us, your team; today you broke the law by obstructing our investigation." His voice was hard but steady as she stared at her hands folded neatly in front of her.

"I know."

"Why?" He still had his back to her as he spoke. "If you don't trust us then you should not remain a member of my team."

"I do trust you."

"You didn't trust us enough to speak to us today did you?" Ziva suddenly clenched her hands into fists and slammed them both don onto the table, causing Gibbs to spin round to face her again..

"I TRUSTED YOU TO DO THE RIGHT THING!" she sighed deeply after her outburst, relaxing her hands again.

"What?"

"I trusted you to do the right thing, I knew that if you thought Akim had done it then you would arrest him for it." her voice was barely audible, a mere whisper.

"If you knew he hadn't done it, we would have taken your judgement into consideration."

"I know, but at the time, I thought he had killed her"

"You were going to help him escape even though you thought he had slit that woman's throat as she slept?" Gibbs' voice was full of disbelief but she just shrugged.

"Yes." For the first time since he entered the room she looked up and met his eyes. "I would have." Gibbs was silent for a moment, turning over her reaction in his mind.

"Why?" he asked simply. She pursed her lips tightly and lowered her eyes to the desk.

"Because, because I thought I was partly to blame." she ran her hands through her hair sighed. "We had a fight, a really, really big fight last night."

"Uh-huh"

"And so he went to stay with her, normally he stays with me, sees her during the day, because I work and she does not you know?" She looked up at Gibbs, her eyes pleading with him to try and understand. "So last night he went to her, really angry because of me and this morning she is dead I do not know, I was not thinking straight because of our fight I just, did not know what to do." Gibbs sighed,

"What could you to have POSSIBLY fought about that would upset you that much? Enough to lie to you team and jeopardise your whole future?" there was a strained silence between them, "Ziva!" he banged his fist on the table causing her to jump slightly.

"Ari, we fought about Ari." her voice was barely audible as Gibbs stepped back from the desk, about to say something but before he could voice it Ziva continued, "You see, Akim was Ari's best friend when we were children. He lived around the corner and he played at our house all the time, our fathers were good friends, they worked together. Even when Ari left with his mother they stayed in touch, like pen friends, " she paused and smiled, "They were very sweet and when Ari came to spend his holidays with us Akim would come round every day. He did not have brothers or sisters of his own so he liked to spend time with us, even when Ari was not at home. He became like another sibling, one of us. All through school and university they stayed in close touch, with each other and me but then when Ari became more and more involved in the work my father had him do it became more difficult for them to talk. So you see Akim only knows our old Ari, the one we grew up with. He does not know what he became." Gibbs stared at her as she finished,

"ok, but that still doesn't explain . . ."

"The argument, yes I know, I'm coming to that." She snapped suddenly at Gibbs who raised his eyebrow in surprise but said nothing, "Akim has always found it hard to accept that I work here, with you, because he thinks you killed Ari. He says he does not know how I can bare to look at you all day because of what you did, what you took from us and he says this all the time, all the time. So last night we were talking about him and he started up again pressurising me to leave NCIS and. . . And I do not know why but I just, told him it was me. That I killed Ari." Gibbs sank down into the chair,

"Oh" Ziva glanced up at him, her eyes were glistening slightly as she carried on her story, her voice now wavering,

"He was SO angry with me. I have never, ever seen him like that before. I don't know why I told him, maybe I thought I could make I'm understand. But he could not see why I did it." she stopped, breathing deeply with her eyes shut, trying desperately to hold herself together. "And then he, he just left. He left me and for the first time I was not sure that he would come back to me, he was so angry. When he phoned me the next day I thought he was going to apologise, but he was so, uh freaked out about this, he did not make much sense so I went to him. I suppose I thought that if I helped him then maybe he would, well, forgive me. I had to do it Gibbs, you see? I , I, I . . ." she paused to breathe in again, "I NEED him, he is pretty much all I have left now. I know that I was wrong to do this but I just, I could not turn my back on another brother Gibbs, you cannot expect me to do it again." Her voice was thin, dangerously close to breaking as she finished speaking and she brought her hands up to cover her eyes. Gibbs sighed deeply,

"Ok, ok" he stood up and moved round to her side and leant on the desk, "Ziva" she ignored him so repeated her name but again she made no movement so he reached his hand under her skin and pushed her face up until her eyes met his. "Don't ever, ever do this again you understand me?"

"Don't do what? Break the law?"

"No, lie to us, hide things from us. We are your team and . . ."

"I know, I know and I'm sorry but this morning, I just . . . Did not know . .." she tried to shake her head loose from his grip but he held it tight.

"Stop apologising, you know the rule." a fleeting smile darted across her face, "You must trust us to help you. You don't always have to go it alone." she snorted quietly.

"Hmmm like you Gibbs, I'm sure you would always ask for our help yes?"

"Ziva, we both know what you've done for me." His voice was firm, signalling the end of the conversation. He smiled at her and stood up, moving his hand to her shoulder and squeezed it gently. He took a step before turning as an after thought placed a light kiss on her head, her dark curls tickling him lightly. Her shoulders relaxed as she let out a long, long sigh as he walked out of the room.


	10. Chapter 10

-1A few moments after Gibbs left the interogation room Tony rounded the corner into the corridor and began striding towards it, he was worried about what Gibbs would have done to Ziva, he must have torn her off a strip at the very, very least. He wasn't sure just how angry Gibbs had been, he hadn't given much away. There was a choking fear eating its way up from his stomach to his chest that, maybe, if Gibbs was angry enough or if it had gotten out that Ziva had had obstructed the case they might end her position with NCIS. They might send her back to Israel, or at least out of D.C. He paused outside the door, trying to restrain the emotions battling inside him, he was terrified and furious at the same time, angry at her for lying to him, angry at himself for so easily condemning her, scared that she would be sent away, terrified that judging by her behaviour today, he clearly did not mean as much to her as she did to him. He sucked in a huge breathe and turned his face to the ceiling, building up his strength before pushing the door open and entered. Inside Ziva was just swinging her rucksack onto her back, she turned to face him and waited for him to speak. He folded his arms, blocking the exit while he spoke.

"You realise that I spent the entire day scared, terrified of what you had done, what might have happened to you?"

"Well maybe you should have had a little faith in me Tony, hmm, maybe a little bit of trust?" she squared up to him, sick of the attitude he had had all day.

"ME? Me have a little more trust? Are you freakin SERIOUS?" He flung his arms apart in anger, "After that whole Jeanne thing didn't you repeat yourself a hundred times a day _we're partners Tony, there shouldn't be secrets between partners Tony, I was worried you were ill _ blah blah blah and yet today did you tell me a damn thing? NO!" He paused to breathe, "All day I was worried sick! I thought, we were you know, well I thought that you knew me and I knew well but I guess not huh?" Ziva ran her hand through her hair, dragging through her wild curls,

"Tony come on , I, I am sorry ok I . . ." her resolve washed away rapidly as she the stress of the day and the previous night began to catch up on her and the hurt she had caused became suddenly more apparent, or at least it suddenly seemed more important than her own feelings.

"You what? You didn't feel like you could tell us? You know something, you . . ." He brandished a finger in her face, "YOU are the biggest hypocrite I know" his voice was growing steadily louder as he launched his accusations at her.

"Tony, please I do not want to fight with you. I just want to go home ok?"

"Right of course, of course it's not important that you explain yourself to me, clearly I or my feelings are not important at all."

"You know that is not true Tony, you do."

"oh do I? I'm sure you gave Gibbs a nice explanation hmm? What did he say anyway-ha that's something else you know, I was worried about what he'd do to you for this, he must have been furious." she looked at him, her face devoid of emotion.

"He is not angry with me."

"What do you mean he's not? He must be? This whole day you have just treated us like dirt!"

"He is not angry because he understands why I did it Tony, he knows things about me ok?"

"oh right so basically everybody knows you better than me right?" He scoffed as he spoke before his tone changed suddenly, "Wait, what does he know about you?" his head was cocked slightly to the side. Ziva stepped back slightly,

"What? Nothing," she went to move round him to reach the door but he stepped In front of her path. "Tony, please I am exhausted can we not just talk about this later?"

"You're exhausted? Can you not even consider my feelings for a second? I have had a horrific day all because you thought some friend of yours murdered some woman. I can't believe that you risked everything for that guy." he shook his head in disbelief but as he did so Ziva shoved him roughly out of her way,

"No Tony, no not just some friend, my BEST friend and if you are going to keep going to make me feel badly about this then I will just leave then." she stormed out the room as Tony scurried to catch up with her.

"But even you thought he was guilty and yet you still protected him!" she spun round banging her hand against her chest,

"He was like a brother to me ok, my whole life he has been there for me, to cover for me all I had to do for him was this one thing!" she turned round again and continued to stride towards the lift.

"Right well, I guess the fact that he might have killed an innocent woman must make him feel like a brother judging by Ari's character." He called out after her, causing her to stop dead in her tracks but just for a second before she continued on across the floor. Tony ran to reach her side, "Guess maybe because you weren't able to get Ari off with murder you thought you would try to do a better job with Akim huh?" They had reached the lift and she stabbed the button before turning round and stabbing his shoulders with the same one.

"Akim did not do anything!" she hissed at him venomously.

"Well yeah we know that now but you didn't at the time did you? I guess maybe you can ignore the evilness in your brothers though right?" she shut her eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

"Akim is not evil." The lift arrived and the doors slid open allowing them to enter it. She pressed the button for the garage before facing Tony her voice dangerously low, "And you know what? My Ari was not evil either."

"Ok no, that's it" Tony flicked the switch causing the lift to come to a grinding halt. "You can't say that to me ok? I mean he was a terrorist-he killed Kate!" Ziva flung her arms in the air,

"SO WHAT?" she spun round, "So what Tony? Why should I care about her? I did not know her!" Tony opened his mouth to object, "NO! no you have had your chance to yell at me Tony, to me Kate is nothing. I am sorry, she meant a lot to you I know and you have every right to hate Ari but why, why do you never even think for a moment that maybe, maybe I do not hate him?"

"Ziva, you had better stop talking like that now ok? Ari was a monster and you know it." she folded her arms and turned way from him.

"Ari was what our father made him, in the end he was not the brother I remembered but that does not mean that I have to hate him."

"He was a MURDERER and a . . ."

"I have killed people Tony, many people-does that make me evil? I am sure that there are many, many people out there who hate me just as much as you hate Ari."

"I'm not saying you're evil Ziva and you know it but I don't understand how you can defend him,"

"I am not defending what he did Tony, I am just . .."

"YOU ARE! He was a terrorist! I can't believe this, I can't, I mean do you think it's wrong that he is dead, that he didn't deserve it?"

"I am saying that sometimes I miss my brother."

"Is this what you fought with Akim about?" Tony demanded harshly and she nodded her head silently. "Does he think that Ari's a stand up guy too?"

"I did not say that the Ari you knew was a good person Tony and if Akim and I had the same opinion then we wouldn't have argued would we?" she was growing tired of fighting with Tony and her frustration was evident in her tone.

"So what did you fight about then huh?"

"He does not know how I can work with the people that killed Ari." she was hoping that if she spoke calmly then maybe he would calm down a bit, although she was struggling to keep her temper in check.

"Well maybe I'm beginning to wonder the same thing myself Ziva, how can you work with us if we took away your wonderful big brother huh?" He shook his head slightly with a sarcastic laugh, "I mean, you must really, really hate Gibbs for killing him right?" Ziva closed her eyes tightly and fought valiantly to swallow her emotions before darting past Tony, flicking the lift back on before he could stop her. She gripped the railings that run round the interior, providing her with the support she so desperately needed.

"I do not hate Gibbs." he could hardly hear her whisper and just as she finished speaking they bumped gently to a halt and the doors glided smoothly open. She moved to walk out into the corridor but he grabbed her arms roughly and pulled her close to him, their faces close enough that he could feel her breath brush across his lips.

"Well I think that maybe you do and maybe that's why you don't trust us." she jerked free of him and turned to leave but then paused,

"I do not hate Gibbs because he did not kill Ari." She stepped out and marched towards the car park while Tony was left reeling from the bombshell she had just dropped. His mind spun as he tried to draw a conclusion from what she had said before leaping after her.

"What do you mean he didn't? What are you talking about you can't just drop something like that and just walk away!" she ignored him and carried on walking, "WAIT!" he raced forwards to reach her but she suddenly stopped and began making her way back to the lift.

"My car is not here, it is our in the evidence garage!" she shouted in frustration, not at him but just in general annoyance, she simply stormed past him.

"Ziva, what are you saying? If Gibbs didn't do it who did?"

"I DID" her scream echoed across the empty car park as she suddenly spun round flattening a hand across her chest. Tony could see tears had finally managed to escape from her eyes and were determinedly sliding down her cheeks, she didn't seem to notice though, "It was me!" her voice dropped and was filled with a pain that cut right through Tony as he saw how far his anger had pushed her. Before he had even had a moment to process the information she had already practically reached the lift again prompting him nice more to chase her.

"Ziva wait!"

"What, so you can yell at me for keeping this secret to?" her pace was nearing a run too, she was desperate to escape him, all she wanted was to go home

"No, Ziva I'm not gonna yell at you!" she was stepping into the lift when he caught up with her and he was preparing to follow her inside but before he could she spun round, pointing a warning finger at him.

"Do not even THINK about stepping foot in here Tony." Her eyes were roaring with fury, tears still stubbornly spilling out of her their corners despite her best efforts to hold herself together. "I have got nothing left to say to you."

"I . . ."

"SHUT UP!" she was shaking with rage, "Today I lost the most important person in my life, the last person in the world that knows me, that understands me completely, I have nothing now and yet all you are interested in is how it effected you. All you have done all day is make it seem like you are the victim!"

"Ziva . . ."

"You are just so used to thinking I have no feelings that it doesn't even occur to you that maybe I am hurt!"

"I don't think you have no feelings,"

"And then, when I do have them you try to tell me who I can and cannot have feelings for!" she ignored him and dropped her arm to her side her shoulders slumped but her eyes met his with just as much venom.

"Ziva look, I'm sor . . . I didn't know . . . I was just conf . . ." She held up a hand.

"No, I am not interested, just, just leave me alone." her voice was quiet and calm, eerily so, and Tony could do nothing but watch as the doors slid shut.


	11. Chapter 11

Tony frowned at the door, contemplating his next move carefully; he was ninety eight percent sure that he should be here now, that coming round to apologise was the best course of action. He raised his arm to knock. On the other hand, maybe he should give her some time to calm down a bit, she had been absolutely furious with him and to be honest he could see why. Perhaps what she needed was a bit of space, yeah some room to breathe and see things from his point of view. He stepped back and turned to leave taking a few steps before spinning back round. Then again, maybe if he left her by herself she would just wallow in fury, getting more and more angry with him as she thought over what he had said. He clutched his pizza box tightly as a cold panic began to slowly spread its way through his body, he knew he had to decide, and fast. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, probably she already knew he was there, he had been lurking in the hall way for a while-his pizza was almost cold.

However, Ziva was not aware she had a nervous guest hovering outside her door, she was sitting on her sofa staring blankly into space. When she had arrived home she had immediately jumped into the shower and since then she had basically just sat nursing a class of rum willing her phone to ring or for Akim to turn up and forgive her, even though deep down she suspected that he would never be able to bring himself to do so, but she could hope.

Tony finally worked up the courage to bang on the door and waited apprehensively. Inside Ziva leapt off her sofa and ran towards the door, flinging it open. When she saw Tony the hope that had lit up her eyes disappeared instantly and her whole face dropped,

"Tony, I thought that you might have been . . ." she sighed angrily, "I don't want to fight with you now ok?" she turned back into her flat trying to swing her door closed but he put his foot in front of it pushing his way inside.

"I didn't come to fight more ok?"

"What do you want then?" she kept walking towards her living room with her back to him.

"I came to, I came to . . ." He stuttered, desperately trying to come up with an opening line, thinking he should have thought this through what he would say earlier. He sighed and flung his pizza onto her coffee table and spread his arms out in a placating gesture , "I'm sorry ok" she still didn't look at him so he lunged towards her, grabbing her arm to spin her round to face him, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said what I said. I shouldn't have been angry with you, I should have had more faith in you, I, I . . ." he grabbed her harder and looked pleadingly into her eyes, "I'm sorry, what can I do to? I'm sorry . . ." she turned her face away from him avoiding his eyes,

"It's ok" her voice was shaking slightly, he moved his hands from her arms to her neck, gently turning her face back round, her eyes had began to glisten again and she screwed up her face, annoyed that she was losing control of her emotions again.

"We're ok then?" his hands had slid up so her face now cupped in them, his thumbs stroking her cheeks gently. She nodded quickly and tried to free herself but he kept a firm hold. "Ziva, are you crying?" seeing her this fragile was scaring him, usually she was so strong, so tough, so sure of herself, the fact that maybe he was the reason for her pain was eating away at him.

"No, I am fine." she spoke with certainty but her nevertheless her eyes continued to well up,

"I'm sorry, just pl . . ." she smiled weakly and moved her hands up and wrapped them around his forearms.

"This is not your fault Tony," He flashed her an incredulous look, "well not entirely" she added. She stretched her smile out and pulled his arms off of her and brushed past him,

"oh no, no, no get back here you." he stuck an arm out, catching her round the waist and dragging her back and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I said that I am fine Tony." her voice was muffled against his shoulder.

"Ziva, you don't always have to hide from people, you don't always have to be tough and strong you know." He tightened the hug as he whispered in her ear, she had been stubbornly keeping her body rigid but finally melted into him. She slipped her arms around his waist and turned her head to bury her face against his neck. He could feel her warm breath tickle his skin and her hands slide up his back to his shoulders as she relaxed. Finally she straightened up.

"You see Tony I am fine, what kind of pizza is that? I'm starving!" he smiled and followed her to the sofa. They sat and ate their pizza in silence for a white until Tony cleared his throat,

"So, you uh . . . Killed Ari." he didn't know how to pose the question but he was desperate to know more about it. She didn't look at him but grunted yes and continued to chew he pizza. "Ziva, come on." she sighed and turned to him.

"I shot him, there is not much else to say."

"Well maybe you could you know, you could tell me about your feelings or something."

"I already did, I do not regret killing him." she was facing him but avoided eye contact. "But . . . But sometimes miss him. He used to be so, different." she sat back into the cushions and as she spoke she sounded almost wistful, "You know, I did not believe what you all said about him, about what he had done. Right up until when we were in Gibbs' basement, when he said. . ." her voice faded away. "You know I knew he hated our father I just did not realise just how much." she was silent for a while, picking away at her slice of pizza. "You know, we were going to meet in Paris after," the comment hung heavily in the air for a few moments, despite the strange bright tone she had used. "But instead I shot him, to save Gibbs," she added matter-of-factly.

"And Akim knows what he did?"

"Everyone has heard of what he did, even when I told him but he did not believe it, we fought for a long time last night." she flung a bit of crust back into the box, "Always he says that I am a traitor to work for Gibbs, but he always assumed that my father put me here, not that I asked to stay. But he found out yesterday, I do not know how but he did and he was very upset about it, called me a traitor."

"A traitor?"

"Yes, and a snake."

"A snake?"

"Yes Tony a snake. I think that it might be quite appropriate you know?"

"What? How?" he asked but she just took a swig of her rum, it was doing a wonderful job of loosening her tongue.

"Do you not think Tony, that the people we care about and care about us define our lives very much?" she seemed to have taken up a totally different topic, on which he wasn't quite sure he understood.

"Well yeah, I guess so." he said uncertainly.

"I think they do, they make us, us." Tony was becoming more and more confused, he had a feeling that she was trying, in her own way, to reveal a profound insight into her feelings and yet he couldn't quite grasp it yet. " I have lost a lot of people." she took another swig as he searched her face carefully, wondering where she was going with this. "Either they die, or disappear or sometimes I have to just leave them behind. The people around me that protect me, care for me, work with me I can just shed them the way the snake sheds its skin. I just always slither on." she made a slithering motion with her arm, twisting it back and forth before letting it fall to her side. "I had a lot of time to think about this today you see." she explained before adding spontaneously, "And of course, they are cold blooded just-like-me." she sighed deeply and shut her eyes.

"Ziva you are definitely not . .." Ziva's phone began to ring and she instantly leapt off the sofa and grabbed it up.

"Hello?" she was breathless with nervousness, "Oh, hi Nadine . . .oh right ok . . . No, no I am fine . . .yes ok usual time next week. . . Ok bye" she put it back down dejectedly, "It was not him."

"Who was it?"

"Just a friend from kick boxing, we usually run to our class together but she cannot come this week." she folded her arms and stared out the window. After a few moments Tony sighed and leaned,

"You know, he abandoned you to clear up his mess, gave you loads of a abuse for stopping a murderer, why are you so desperate that he forgive YOU?"

"Because he's my family, I said, he is the only one in the world that knows me completely, everything I have ever done and loves me anyway and, and, and," she stopped talking and flopped back onto the sofa next to him, closer than before so that their legs were touching. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she lent her head on it.

"I just want to speak to him, I do not even know where he is." she sighed as she stared at the ceiling.

"I'm sure he'll be in touch. . . And besides," he bent his arm at the elbow and brought his hand up to stroke her hair, "He is not the only one in the world that cares about you." she smiled and turned her face him.

"I know." she put her feet up on the coffee table, leaning her knees against his,

"Well good." he pulled her closer to him, she slipped an arm across his waist, nestled her head on his shoulder and they sat in contented silence for a while.

"You know, you could always tell me everything and then Akim wouldn't be the ONLY person in the whole world that knows you."

"I cannot do that."

"Why? Because you think it will make me think differently about you?"

"No because I cannot just go around telling everyone about my work."

"Hey I can keep a secret!" Tony exclaimed indignantly.

"Mmmm yes of course you can."

"I can! For example I'll keep it a secret that our big bad spy _likes to snuggle._" he squeezed her as his voice took on a high pitched, playful tone. She raised her head slightly , her lips practically touching his neck as she spoke

"Ha! If you did tell, no one would believe you." she laughed as she spoke, sliding her arm up his chest to his shoulder, he laughed wriggled and further into the sofa cushions, pulling her with him. They had only been sitting like this for about ten minutes until the phone rang again, again prompting Ziva to leap to her feet.

"Hello," she answered it and a few seconds later began speaking in rapid Hebrew and gesturing wildly in the air. She strode through to her room shutting the door behind her leaving him alone on the sofa, staring after her.


	12. Chapter 12

Tony didn't know how long she'd been in her room, it hadn't occurred to him to check the time she went through at but he knew it had been at leas twenty minutes since he had first looked at his watch. He wasn't sure what to do, he had cleared up their pizza, paced about for a while, taken off his tie, paced around some more, tried to eavesdrop but then realised that it was pointless since the only Hebrew word he knew was mazal tov, well he wasn't _actually one hundred percent sure what its exact meaning was but he could recognise it, he should ask when she was in a better mood. He sighed, and sidled over to the sofa, considering putting on the TV but part of him thought it might be a tad inappropriate or insensitive if she came out seriously upset and he was just relaxing watching the game. He craned his neck to look at the door again, earlier she had been shouting, her voice crackling with emotion. He was sure she had been crying and had toyed for a fleeting moment going in to see her but then reconsidered, he didn't want to get in the way. Anyway she seemed to have calmed down now, her voice low enough that he had to strain to hear it. He wished he knew some Hebrew so he could follow what was going on in there. It wasn't that he was nosey per se, he just liked to know her business, what was going on in her life, what she was thinking, what she was feeling. Ok, maybe he was nosey. Especially when it came to her, she was just such a mystery to him-he could never work her out. He lay back and propped his feet upon the coffee table again and began to ponder his enigmatic partner. He spent a lot of time trying to figure out what made her tick, but he could never work out what would make her smile, what would make her angry, happy or sad. Half the time he wasn't even sure what she was actually feeling, She was a closed book but sometimes, rarely, she would open up and give him a glimpse of her. Every time she did he was elated, even if it was something which had left scars running deep inside her, just because she had let him see them. He was increasingly becoming aware of the effect she had on him, he spent half his time trying to think of ways to make her smile at him or laugh the laugh which enveloped him so completely when it erupted unexpectedly. Even when it was at his expense; especially when it was at his expense as it meant he had her undivided attention. She played with him too, teased him by fixing sultry looks on him, gliding stealthily into his personal space; practically touching him before he even noticed. Leaning over him, close enough for him to feel the warmth radiating from her, for her hair to fall over his shoulders, tickling his skin but not quite close enough for them to touch. At first he thought nothing of it, it was just a bit of fun, she was just messing with him and he enjoyed the light hearted sexual tension between them. Sure he would look at her, eye her up a bit but so what he did that to every good looking woman that crossed his path and Ziva was definitely a good looking woman. But then he slowly began to realise that he looked forward to her invading his personal space, to her flashing him a quick grin or even just a glance. He was becoming more and more interested in her personal life and if she was seeing someone he was consumed with an intense jealousy, he tried to talk himself into thinking that he was just taking a general interest in his colleague's love life. Of course when he poked his nose into McGee's love life it was because he found it, well kind of funny, and he was interested in Abby's out of a sort of brotherly concern. He definitely did not spend hours obsessing over the fact that someone else was spending time with them, running their hands over them, holding them or kissing them, it was only Ziva's relationships he took that kind of interest in. She drove him crazy and she didn't even know it, they'd be standing watching an interogation and she'd be chatting away, not realising that he was desperately trying to stop himself from moving behind her back, slipping his hands around her waist, sliding them under her shirt to feel her skin under his finger tips, pulling her close, kissing her neck, nuzzling his face into her hair to breath in its spicy scent. _

_Recently he had began to suspect, or hope, that maybe she felt the same about him. He picked up on loaded comments, touches which lingered just a few seconds longer than needed and he had been trying to work up the courage to take his chance. Every now and then he came dangerously close to going for it but something always happened that just crushed his resolve. He knew that one day, when he was absolutely sure she felt the same way about him that nothing could prevent him from acting on his feelings but there were also days when he wondered if that would ever happen. The way she acted today had shaken him to the core, even if she didn't want her the way he did her, he had thought they had a certain level of trust and closeness, but apparently not. He suddenly sat up and shook his head, rubbing his face, he often ended up kind of depressed after thinking about her like this, considering the possibility he might always be dreaming of doing these things but would never quite have the guts to make it happen. He got to his feet and strolled to the sink to get a glass of water, slowing down as he passed her bedroom, in the hope of catching something but he had no such luck. He turned on the tap and looked out the window as his glass filled. Just as he was taking his first sip he heard a door open behind him. He spun round to see Ziva shuffle out with a dazed expression on her face, her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. _

"_Ziva?" He put down his glass onto the counter and began rushing over to her, she didn't answer but looked up at him, he paused, "Ziva, what happened?" He stepped towards her, grabbing her by the waist, she placed her hands around his upper arms, holding on tight. She looked down to the side and sniffed, lips trembling. He shook her gently, barely more than a slight jerk just to get her attention. "Ziva, what happened? What did he say?" She sighed and smiled, turning her head back and slid her hands up his arms and around his neck pulling him close, pushing her face into his neck, breathing him in deeply. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and rubbed her back gently,_

"_It is ok now." she whispered quietly, _

"_What?"_

"_Akim, he apologised. He said he understood why I did it."_

"_Well good, he should do." _

"_Mmmm, he said that he was angry and upset mostly because I, well I did not tell him."_

"_Right, so what now?"_

"_I do not know, he is in Brazil. I do not think he is coming back. But he still loves me." He laughed lightly._

"_Of course he does." she moved back and slid her hands down to his chest and stepped back slightly and looked him in the eyes, _

"_Listen, I am sorry Tony." he furrowed is brows in confusion,_

"_Huh?"_

"_For today, the way I behaved, the way I treated you." _

"_That's ok, I'm just glad it's all finished with now." he smiled down at her reassuringly. _

"_No, no it is not ok," she lifted her palms off of his chest and then patted them back, "I treated you very badly, I should not have done that."_

"_Seriously it's ok," he chuckled at her._

"_No, I should have been more honest with you and I, well, you should know that I, I appreciate you. Very much." Tony stopped laughing at the serious tone and looked down at her deep brown eyes earnestly staring back. He swallowed nervously and licked his lips; suddenly very aware that his hands were still resting on her hips and that her hands were resting on his chest, her fingers fiddling with the open collar of his shirt. He began finding it difficult to be breathe, a cold panic sweeping through him from the pit of his stomach as the realisation finally hit him that this was it, this was his chance._


End file.
